Kindle eBooks

Once you're in Kindle eBooks, scroll down and click on Romance.

This will bring up a list of the top 100 best sellers in Romance, but note that on the left-hand side, there is a large list of sub-categories.

This is where we will do our research.

What we are going to do is pick a sub-category (no particular method; maybe just something that piques our interest) and look at the overall best seller rankings of the #1 and #100 books in that sub-category. We want the #1 book to be under 2,500 because that indicates that there is money to be made and the #100 book to be over 25,000 because that indicates that the competition is low enough for us to rank high and make money.

I'm going to choose Time Travel (scroll down to find it between Sports and Westerns). Why? Probably because I'm interested in history and can imagine a romance between a modern young woman and an historical figure such as Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great or Genghis Khan. Or a male protagonist romancing Elizabeth l, the virgin queen. Or... well, you get the idea.

The #1 Best Seller in the Sub-category

At the time of writing, the number 1 best seller in Time Travel Romance was Diana Gabaldon's Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone. This is actually the last book of the 9-book Outlander series. Click on the book cover to find out where it fits in Amazon's overall best seller list.

Wow! What a money spinner. Number 1 in Time Travel Romances, Time Travel Romance and number 2 in Historical Fantasy are all to be expected, but number 203 in the entire Kindle Store means that this book is really making a lot of money.

Bearing in mind that most customers don't bother leaving ratings, the fact that it has over 27K ratings and 4.5 stars is another indication of the size of its footprint.

But... note also its 960 pages. This is a novel, not a novella or short story.

But also... as I said before, it's the last book in a 9-book series. It's reasonable to assume that most if not all purchasers of this book have also bought the first 8 books of the series. Making this series hugely profitable.

The #100 Best Seller in the Sub-Category

At the time of writing, the number 100 best seller in Best Sellers in Time Travel Romance was Rescued By The Highlander:A Scottish Time Travel Romance (Highlander Forever Book 1). Where does it fit into Amazon's best seller rankings?

Interesting. Naturally, it's #100 in Time Travel Romance but number 24,157 in the Kindle Store.

Not quite over the 25,000 that I said we wanted to be but in my opinion close enough.

To me, this indicates that I can do well in this sub-category if I can produce a quality product.

And I'm confident in my ability to do so. Let's see just how we are going to go about achieving this.

It's no coincidence that both the first and the 100th book in this sub-category are set in the Scottish Highlands. Several of Diane Gabaldon's Outlander series are in the top 100 and the reviews of others are often accused of ripping them off. So I'd tread carefully. By all means emulate her style but steer clear of her settings and characters.